Fireplace back



Aug. 12 1924.

F. S. THORNE FIREPLACE BACK Filed July 50. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F. S. THORNE FIREPLACE BACK Aug. 12 1924.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 30 1921 Patented Aug. 12, 1924..

Nl'l'fill) STATES FRANK THOEINE, 01'" PO'BTLAND,

FIREPLACE BACK.

Application filed July 30, 1821.

T0 f? whom it may concern:

it known that l, FRANK S. THORNE. a citizen of the United States, residing at Portlanrh in the county of? Multnomah and State of @regon. have invented certain new and useful improvements in Fireplace Backs of which the following is a specification reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to fire places, and particularly to the fire backs of fire places.

The object of the present invention'is to provide a fire back so constructed that the heating surface is increased from one-half to two-thirds more than in the ordinary form of fire back, and in this connection to provide a fire place back so constructed that the flames will be caused to spread and a maximum heat radiating and deflecting surface will be secured.

A further object is to provide means whereby air may be permitted to pass up between the logs at the rear of the fire place and the back wall of the fire place, and particularly to provide means for holding the logs away from the back of the fire place.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a front elevation of a fire place constructed in accordance with one embodiment of my invention;

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1:, i

Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4: is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a front elevation of the fire place constructed in accordance with another embodiment of my invention;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view thereof;

Figure 7 is a horizontal sectional view thereot on the line 7? of Figure 5;

Figure 8 is a section on the line 8-8 of i, he 5;

Figure 9 is an elevation illustrating a modified manner in which the fire channels may be formed.

In Figures 1 to 4. I have illustrated my invention as applied to a brick fire place where the fire back is formed of brick. In Figures to 9, however, I have illustrated the means for causing the spreading of the from the floor 13 of the fire place for a 0531321111 distance, as for instance to the level of the grate. and above this point the middle portion of the back wall is recessed, as at 14:. This recess 14- is defined on each side by bricks 15. and this recess 141 permits air to pass up behind the rear logs of the fire, while the bricks 15 on each side of the recess act to prevent the rear logs from blocking; up the passage through the recess 14-. This permits air to pass up behind the back logs of the fire. The bricks which are laid. to form the inclined portion 12 are disposed in angular courses, that is the courses extend downward toward the middle of the fire back, as illustrated in Figure 1. and these courses are alternately flush with the bricks of the back 11 and alternately sunken so as to form a plurality of upwardly and laterally extending channels 16 diverging with reference to a like channel on the opposite side of the fire place back. These channels may be 1", 2 or 3 deep, as may be desired. and they act to cause the divergence of the flames laterallyinstead of permitting these flames to pass directly upward through the throat of the chimney. Furthermore, these channels are rectangular in cross section and are relatively deep, and as a. consequence the surface of the back is relatively large in comparison with the width of the back so that a. very great heat radiating surface is provided.

In the ordinary fire place, the flames have a tendency to go straight upward and, therefore, only the middle portion of the back of the fire place comes in contact with the flames and only this middle portion acts as aheat radiating portion. By formingthese channels or grooves 16 extending; upwardly and divergently outward from a medial linea the flames are spread and come in contact with a relatively large area of the fire place back, which is. ordinarily not touched by the flames, and because of the corrugated surface of the back a very large heat radiating surface is provided so that the fire place is rendered much more effective. By forming the rear wall of the fire place of alternately projecting and depressed courses of brick, I increase the heating surface from one-half to two-thirds over a flat surface.

In Figures 5 to 9, I show another form of my invention built on exactly the same principle, but in which the fire place back is formed of metal. In these figures, 17 designates the side walls of the fire place, 18 the vertical portion of the back, and 19 the upwardly inclined portion of the back. I have illustrated in Figure 7 a grate 2O supported in any suitable manner within the fire place, as for instance within a frame 21 suitably mounted upon a projecting portion of the back wall, this grate being removable and formed with hook members 22 adapted to engage openings 23 formed in the frame 21 whereby the grate can either be swung up or entirely removed, as may be desired. The usual ash pan is disposed below the grate into which the ashes from the fire are deposited. I have also shown a fuel retaining guard 24: mounted on the outer edge of the frame and extending across the front of the fire place. The dampers 25 for controlling the draft to the fire are located on each side and air is conducted to the fire through the air passages or draft fiues 26. A door 27 extends across the front of the fire place, and a suitable knob is secured to the door for operating the same. By placing draft fines on each side of the fire place, the air which is drawn in to aid the fire in burning is not the warm air which has been admitted into the room but pure air drawn from without. The means for causing the divergence of the flame and increasing the radiating surface of the fire back in Figures 5 to 9 consists of a plate 28 of relatively thin 'metal which is attached to the inclined brick face forming the portion 19 of the fire place in any suitable manner, and this plate is so formed as to provide a series of upwardly divergent grooves 29.

In order to form these grooves, the plate is corrugated and bent to provide a plurality of outwardly projecting, parallel walls 30 connected by inwardly and medially inclined walls 31 forming the bottoms of the channels 29. As illustrated, these channels are gradually larger as they near the middle of the fire place, but I do not wish to be limited to this. It will be seen that these angular walls tend to throw the heat against the outwardly extending walls 30 so that all of these walls which form the corrugations of the fire back are heated and act to radiate the heat out into the room. As before remarked, the corrugated portions of the fire back formed by the walls 30 and 31 may be attached to the metal plate 28 or they may be cast upon this metal plate 28, or the metal plate 28 itself may be formed to provide these walls 30 and 31, and I do not wish to be limited to this nor to the use of the plate 28 as the corrugated walls 30 and 31 might be attached directly to the brickwork. It is suificient to provide a series of channels 29 extending upward and outward, these channels being relatively deep and having at least one wall extending vertically outward.

In the form of fire place disclosed in Figures 1 to 4:, the grooves or channels are shown as rectangular sections so that there are two parallel walls to these channels which are disposed at right angles to the back of the fire place. In the form shown in Figures 5 to 9, however, only one of these walls is disposed at right angles to the plane of the back of the fire place, but in both forms the same principle is involved. that is the principle of making the channels relatively deep and forming these channels with one wall at least extending out at right angles to the plane of the fire place.

While I have illustrated in Figures 1 to 8, these channels 29 diverging with relation to each other at an angle of 49, I do not wish to be limited to this. as these channels might be curved in their length without departing from the spirit of the invention, as shown in Figure 9.

I claim 1. In a fireplace, a grate, a forwardly and upwardly inclined fire back provided with :1 plurality of parallel grooves diverging upwardly from the middle line of the fire back and having their lower ends terminating above the grate and forward projections formed in the rear wall of the fireplace above the grate and below the lower ends of said grooves, the projections being arranged in spaced relation to define a passage lead ing to the lower ends of all of said grooves, the said projections serving as stops for pre venting the engagement of the logs on the grate against the fire back and the passage and'said passage serving to direct the flames into the lower ends of said grooves.

2. In a fireplace, a grate, a forwardly and upwardly directed fire back formed of sheet metal pressed to define upwardly diverging grooves arranged in parallel series. the metal defining each groove having one wall extending at right angles to the fire back and the other wall inclined toward the center line of the fire back and at the rear of the grate together defining a vertical passage communicating with. all of said grooves and acting as stops for preventing logs on i the grate from rolling back against the fire box.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

, FRANK s. THORNE.

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